Trap-nest door for poultry



June 28 1927.

A.R.HOEFT TRAP'NEST DooR FOR POULTRY Filed April L1, 1924 Patented June28, 1927.

maar oFFlcE.

TRAP-Nasr noon non roULTnY.

Application flied apra 11, Y1924. 'semi No. 705,831.

front opening' of the nest untilthe door or closure is raised tovrelease the fowl.

I c Among the objects of the invention is to provide a door structure ofthis character in which closure sections, having swinging and relativelysliding movement,`ar ranged that the closure elements e so arwill helocked from swinging inwardly when disposed in one posit-ion of theirislidin,

1nent,'and, in another position, will fr movebeV left free to loe swunginwardly and upwardly either to set the closure f-or the entrance of afowl or to open the closure to remove a fowl. Y v

Another object of the inventionis to provide a closure of this characterwhich can loe set for fowls of different heights.

In' the use of the present invention, the closure elements are adaptedto he set inposition to afford space for a fowl to pass therebeneath butat such height that the back or tail"of the fowl will release thesetting means and permit the clos-ure sections to fallhy gravity intoclosing position; there to be held until the closure sections aremanuallyope open the closure.A

Another object of the invention is rated to to providev a closure ofthis character which is included in and made part of a larger door whichris adaptedto 'oe hinged to the front of the nest and locked in closedposition whereby' the entire front dimensions ofthe nest maybe openedfor lcleaning the n est.

Other objectsv are' to further impro plify and reduce the cost of trapnest' doors and the invention consists `in the elements and combinationof elements vshown lin' the drawings and described in the specification,

and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:V Y

Figure 1 is a frontiview of a trapnest door'embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is. a section on the linek v2--2 yof Figure 1E showing thefdoorin Closed posi? tion.

f Figure Sis a similar section showing the door in set position.

`Figure `is afragmentary detail section 55 showing the closure sectionsvin partially raised *position1` onl an enlarged scalef f Figure 5 is afragmentary, insideview of the structure. n f

Figure Gis a section on the line 6 6 of GU liligure.V 'f

yAs shownin' the drawings: p 10 designates, asa'whole, the 'nest whichVmay loe made of any desired form ormate-` rial and it here shown asprovided with a front wallv 11 that is cut out to produce' a frontopeningl 12 over which my improved trap nest door'is designed toloefitted. y rli`he trap nest door herein shown 'embraces in Vgeneral twoelementary structures, to-wit: a metal plate 14 which partially overlapsthe front walloutwardly loeyond the opening 12 and is 'centrally cutaway to produce in itself an' opening of ysubstantially1the samedimensions as the opening 12, and two closure elements 15, 16 that arearranged to close the opening in said plate 14 when disposed in givenpositions and when disposed in other ,Y positions'to he moved away fromand clear the opening in said plate 14. The plate 14 go' is provided atits'in'ner margin vwith narrow inturned `centering flanges 17 to centerthe plate relatively to the front opening in the nest. l' Said fplatep14 constitutes in itself a door 85v that is mounted to swing yabouthinges 18 at the lower margin thereof toI clear the full frontopeningland is adapted to loe locked in closed position by means ofa'rotativeI screw eye'19 thatvisscr'ewed into the front 90 of the nestand is adapte-d,v when turnedy transverse'iyV to a slot 2O at the top ofthe plate, to release said plate to allowr it to swing dow-nwardlyg'butwhen turned trans'- verselv to the slot to loclr the door plate in itsclosed-position. l

The closure sections 15, '16,' as before stated, close the nest openingformed inthe door Vplate 14;. VThere are two of theseclosuresections,a`s` shown The closure sec- 100 artion 15 is hinged at itsupperI margin to the door plat-e 14 by a rod 21, the ends of which rodare fiXedly mounted relatively to the door plate 14. As herein shown,said ends of the rod extend through and closely fit in openings in theinner flanges 22 of reinforcing channels, designated as a wholeby 23;said channels being arranged in pairs, one at each side of the openingin the door plate and riveted thereto. The closure section 16 isslidable on the closure section 15 and the depth of both sections` are such as to substantially close the opening in the door plate 14. Theslidable connectionof the closure section 16 to the closure sect-ion 15embraces a rod 24 fixed to the upper margin of the closure section 16.extending across and inside the closure section 16, and is slidable atits end in slots 25 formed in the inner flanges 22 of the channelreinforcing bar 23, above referred to. Said slots 25 occupy the upperends of said channels 22, as best shown in Figures 2 and 3. The lowerpart of the closure section 16 is confined relatively'to the closuresection 15 by means of lips 26 formed integral with the side margins ofthe closure section 15 and lapped backwardly over the rear face of thedoor closure section 16.

27 designates a latch bar which is hinged to the outer face of the upperclosure section 15 and which is pivoted at its upper end on the outerface of said upper closure section 15 and is adapted for setting orinterlocking engagement at its lower end wit-h a plurality of notches 28formed in the door plate 14 at oneV of its vertical members. Figure 1shows the elements of the structure assembled and with the lower closuresection oceupying its extended position so that it and the upper closuresection close the opening 'in the door plate 14. By rea-son of thefactthat the hing of the upper vand lower closure sections are at thistime spaced from each other, as indicated by the dotted line positionsof the hinge rods 21 and 24, it will be noted that they two closuresections can not be swung inwardly about the upper hinge rod 21.Therefore, when the parts are in the position shown in Figure 1, the Vfowl can not enter the nest. To open the nest for the entrance of afowl, the lower sliding and swinging closure section 1G is moved or slidupwardly inside the upper closure section 15 bv reason of the guidingengagement afforded by the lips 26 and the ends of the pivot rod 24passing through the slots 25 until the pivot rods 21 and 24 are broughtto a common swinging center for both closure sections. Thereupon bothclosure sections are swung inwardly into the position illustrated inFigure 3 and are set in such position by engagement of the free end o-fthe latch bar 27 by one of the notches 28. When the closure sections occupy the position shown in Figure 3, space is afforded betw en thebackwardly inclined closure sections and the floor of the nest to permita. fowl to pass into the nest. rl`he height of the free ends of theclosure sect-ions, however.y can be varied by engaging` the latch barend with any one of the notch-es 28. In any event, it is assumed thatthe lower edges of the closure sections will be engaged by the back orthe tail of the fowl to raise them such a distance as to permit thesetting latch bar to drop down. .fitter the fowl has passed the closuresections, the latter will, by gravity, swing outwardly towardv theopening in the door plat-e 14, and the lower or slidable closure sectionwill slide down and relatively to the upper closure section tocompletely close the front opening of the nest. As before stated, theclosure sections cannot be again opened by a fowl attempting to enterthe nest by reason of non-concentric relation of the hinge rod 24 tothat of the rod 21, and the fowl in the nest can only be released bysliding the low-er closure section upwardly to bring the pivots of thetwo closure sections inte or near the plane of the'aXi-s of the hinge orpivot rod 21.

The lower closure section will'be limited in its drop by engagement ofitsrod 24 with the bottom of the notches 25. The lower margin of saidlower section, however, is cut away or curved upwardly to permit thehand to be inserted thereunder to raise said sec'- tion preparatory toopening the nest front; and the position Vof the latch is such that saidlower sectionY may be raised and both sections swung backwardl y and thelatch bar 27 may be operated by one hand of a person who, with his otherhand, can remove the fowl andan egg from the nest.

The closure sections will desirably be pro vided with Ventilatingopenings, as shown in Figure 1, and may also beso disposed at theirupper and lower margins relatively to the upper and lower margins of themain door opening so as to provide other ventilating openings toproperly ventilate the nest.V

In order to afford a further protection against rearwardly opening thedoor, comprising the sections 15 and 16, suitable stops may be set atthe lower part'of the door opening which will be engaged by the lowerclosure section when the door structure is closed. Said` stops may bemade of any suitable structure, as for instancethe inner flanges 'of thechannel bars 23 may be slitted to produce stop tongues 30, as shown inFigures 1, 2 and 3.

lVhile the details of the embodimentV tion is not limited to theillustrated embodiment thereof except :as to claims wherein theparticular details are specifically set forth.

. l claim my'invention: y

l. In a trap nest door, a swingable upper section having a fixed pivot,and a lower section interloclred withA the first section so as atk alltimes to be held in Vparallel relation mounted to swing on a'fixedpivot, a part relatively stationary to said fixed pivot and having aslot extending from a point adjacent to the fixed pivot along theaforesaid section when the latter is closed', of a pivot element movablein said slotted part, a second section connected to said movable pivot,and interlocking means betweenA said sections to maintain them inparallel relation to each other.

4. A trap nest door comprising a door adapted to be hinged to the frontof a nest and having means to lock it in closed position, said doorbeing itselfv provided with an opening, a closure for said openingcomprising two sections, slidable one on the other, one of said sectionsbeing connected to a fixed pivot and the other to a pivot movable towardand from the fixed pivot, and trigger means to set the closure sectionsin inwardly swung-open position.

v 5. A trap nest door comprising a door adapted to be hinged to thefront of a nest and having means to lock it in closed position, saiddoor being itself provided with an A opening, a closure for said openingcom- LEU prising two sections, slidable one on the other, one of saidsections being connected to a fixed pivot and the other to a pivotmovable toward and from the fixed pivot, and trigger means to set theclosure sections in inwardly swung open position, said section connectedto said movable vpivot being slidable by gravity on said other sectionupon tripping of said trigger.

6. In a trap door for fowl nests, two swingable door closure sectionslying flat against each other and connected to slide upon each other,one having pivoted connection to a stationary part and the other havinga pivot that is slidable relatively to the first closure section pivotto bring said closure sections in overlapping relation to pervmit bothsections .to swing about a tially commoncpivot center. v v.

7. The combination with a nest having a front opening, of two closure*sections v.connected together to slide upon .each other and adapted toclose said opening when in non-overlapping relatioinone ofs-aid`sectie-ns beingpivoted to a fixed part and the other having a pivotinslidingfengagement with said xe-d .pai-t, and a releasable settingtrigger to hold said sections swung inwardly toward the nest whendisposed one in overlapping relation to each other.

8. The combination with a nest having a substan- 05y front opening, oftwo closure sections tov close said opening. one slidably connected tothe other, one of said sections being pivoted to a fixed part and theother having a pivot relatively slidable to said fixed part, and triggermeans to hold the door sections in open position when lying one overtheV other, both sections swinging downwardly by gravity and theslidable section moving on the other section by gravity-when saidtrigger means is released.

9. rlhe combination with a nest having an opening. of a closuretherefor, comprising upper and lower closure sections, the upper sectionbeing permanently hinged relatively to the nest and the lower sectionbeing swingably mounted onka pivot which is movable towards and from thehinge of the upper section,-and fixed, slotted guide means to guide saidpivot when the lower section is moving in a path parallel to the saiduppery section, the parts being so proportioned that when the lowersection is raised to its upper limit, the two pivots are brought closetogether.

10. A door for a nest comprising a frame member having a central openingand hinged at its lower end to the nest and provided with means at itsupper end to detachably lock it closed, slotted reinforcing membersfixed to said frame member at the sides of its opening, and two closuresections lapping one over the other and interlocked so as to beV heldinA parallel relation to each other, one permanently hinged to saidreinforcing members and the other having a `pivot slidable in the .slotsof said reinforcing members toward and vfrom the hinge of the firstclosure section.

ll. A trap door for a nest opening comprising a frame having a centraldoor opening. reinforcing means on the inner sideof said frame at thesides of said door opening, two door sections lapping one over the otherand interlocked so as to be held in parallel relation to each other. onehinged to said reinforcing means and the other having a pivot slidableon said reinforcing means toward and from the hinge of the firstsection, and a latch pivoted torsaid first section und adapted forseparate, releasable engageinent With vertically spaced notches on saidframe.

12. A trap door for a. nest opening coinprising a frame, an upper doorsection and ay lower door section adapted to close the opening in theframe, the upper section being hinged at its upper end to said freine,vertical guides on the 'freine in rear of and Uladjzicent to said uppersection, and there l Cf being projections on the upper end of the lowerdoor Section engaged With said guides to permit the lower section to beraised bodily and also to beswung about intransverse axis near the topthereof.

In Witness whereof I claim the foregoing as my invention, hereuntoappend my signature this 8th day of April, 1924.

ADOLPH R. HOEFT.

